Ok so I've been driving my 01 C5 coupe for a couple of weeks now and I'm loving it. Took care of some of the basic maintenance stuff so now I'm moving on to some of the small cosmetic issues I want to take care of. One being the polished factory thin spoke wheels. They just don't seem to shine as much as I would like and are even dull in some spots.

I tried hand polishing them with Flitz and while it did help a little it's still not where I want them to be. So before I go and shell out money to have them painted, I want to see what types of wheel polish you guys are using and if trying a wheel polisher would be a good idea.

I can get the wheels painted for real cheap since I work at a dealership. I'm thinking a gun metal finish or black if I get them repainted.

 

Flitz is a metal polish - the factory polished wheels are polished AL that is clear-coated so you should be cleaning and polishing them the same way you would a painted body panel. You'll just introduce haze with a metal polish. Also, the factory polished wheels will never attain a shine as intense as chrome wheels so you'll need to take that into consideration. Here's a pic of my '02 C5 right after I just picked up from the dealer in Oct. '01 - this is as shiney as those wheels ever get.

 

Yeah, no way are mine as shiny as yours. Actually Flitz did help a little, didn't haze them at all but I won't use that again. Might just be better to get them painted as I can get it done pretty cheap. Don't really feel like spending money on new rims at this point.

 

I use mothers powerball with their polish.

 

I was thinking of trying that. Sounds like a plan!

 

I use Eagle One Nano-Polish.

 

What you need to polish the factory wheels is a polisher and some polishing compound (like Megs 105/205). Like Patches said, the wheels are clear coated and are just like paint. Take them off of the car, mask off the tires, and start polishing! They'll clean up with some elbow grease. Or you can do what others have done and strip the clear off and treat them like any other polished aluminum wheel.

 

But are they really clear coated behind the spokes?
I had lots of oxidation there and used metal polish to remove it and get some "shine".

 

After attempts at polishing I found good old car wax got them looking better and got rid of any hazing and swirl marks.

Wax on....wax off.....drive.

 

Factory wheels are clear coated using polish on them is going to realy F%#*! them up if you want to polish them take them and have the clear coat stripped and then polish them nothing looks better than polished aluminum not even chrome

 

Flitz is not meant for clear coat and will ruin the finish of your rims. You should use wax not metal polish. Mothers polish is abrasive and will scratch the clear coat and make the rims dull.

 

The factory wheels cannot truly be polished. As already stated, you need to strip the clear coat polish them to a get shin and then have them re-cleared. Most likely the real issue is that the clear has hazed over and you can clean it some, but not a lot.

 

If you use a compound on them as you would when using a buffer on your paint such as meguiars fine cut cleaner or heavy cut it will really make them shine again. You can get them to look better than chrome if you want to spend countless hours on stripping the clear off and re-polishing them, if they arent pitted badly then it wont be as much work but look to spend more than 5 hours per wheel just for starters.
And to answer your question about clear behind the spokes, yes they are, the whole wheel is cleared. You probably just got rid of some of the corrosion that had come through the clear along with some surface grime.

 

Thanks for the tips guys! I have some Blue Coral clear coat polish which is made for clear coated finishes. I'm going to give that a try.

 

When I got my 2002 3 years ago, my wheels were pretty much what you described, except some of the clear coat was peeling. I took them off the car one at a time. I stripped the clear coat with Jasco green stripper. Paint it on, it's gel like let sit, then rubbed of with a fine scotch pad. It came off quite easily. Next I sanded the wheels with 1500, then 2000 grit wet paper. Then polished with polishing compound, cleaned then metal polish. Look like polished aluminum rims. Very happy with the results. A lot of work, but worth the effort.